The Meme Textbook Part 2: The Language of the Internet | Page 13

Language
“Rage Comics” combine the visual and verbal
languages of leetspeak and lolspeak. (see pages
2 and 4) The visual format of lolcats and advice
animals also was appropriated by specific “Rage
Faces,” mostly “Y U NO” and “Forever Alone,”
for a short time. (Fig. 22) Specific vocabularly
from leetspeak became ingrained with spe-
cific “Rage Faces.” Most common was “derp,”
slang for stupid, and “troll,” meaning a person
who delights in the torment of others (often
in video games). A number of other phrases
became popularized and associated with spe-
cific “Rage Faces.” Many of these still phrases
are still engrained in internet vernacular, even
if the “Rage Face” itself is no longer used.
One of the most iconic additions to the lan-
guage of the internet from “Rage Comics” was
the replacement of ‘the’ with ‘le.’ For exam-
ple ‘the book’ becomes ‘le book.’ It originated
with a “Rage Comic” featuring a parody of
“Rage Guy” portrayed as a stereotyptical
French man, including a beret and moustache,
with the punchline being that French people’s
rage is more understated than Americans.
fig. 19
Troll Face
“Troll Face” also known as “Cool Guy” or
“Problem?” is one of the most well known
“Rage Faces.” Originally posted to 4chan’s /v/
(video game) board in late 2008, the “Troll
Face” was created by Carlos Ramirez, known
on DeviantArt as Whynne and was apparently
based on the character ‘Rape Mouse.’ The face
most frequently is associated with smug joy,
especially when causing problems for others.
The original comic portrayed how being a troll is
often to cover for prior stupidity, such as fal-
lacies in an argument in an internet. To cover
for being called out by another user, the first
user can pretend the error was intentional and
say they were trolling the other users. (Fig. 21)
As the meme became popular, the “Troll Face”
became incredibly popular in 2009 as it transi-
tioned to other social media websites, such as
Reddit and Tumblr. A number of games using
the “Troll Face” and a number of other “Rage
Faces” have been created. Ramirez has made
a significant amount of money from licensing
fees in these games and other merchandising.
fig. 20
The Meme Textbook | 13